Resources for developing new for-profit or non-profit enterprises with a double bottom line.

What Is?
Major Books
General Info + Lists 
Criteria for Evaluating
Related Guides
Citing Sources

What Is Social Enterprising? What Are Social Entrepreneurs?

Social Enterprise Alliance - "Social Enterprise (n.) Any earned-income business or strategy undertaken by a nonprofit to generate revenue in support of its charitable mission.

Schwab Foundation:  What is a social entrepreneur? 

REDF - "...social entrepreneurs ... involved in the operation of social-purposes enterprises - market-based businesses that pursue a social mission." Includes a list of social enterprises by state.

New Economics Foundation - "Social enterprises are organisations that achieve social or environmental aims primarily through trading."  (British site)

Major Books

Enterprising Nonprofits : a toolkit for social entrepreneurs  by Gregory Dees. ISBN: 0471397350

Social Entrepreneurship: The Art of Mission-Based Venture Development by Peter C. Brinckerhoff. ISBN: 0471362824

Generating and Sustaining Nonprofit Earned Income: A guide to successful enterprise strategies by Sharon Oster. ISBN: 078797238X

Starting and Managing a Nonprofit Organization: A legal guide by Bruce Hopkins - ISBN: 047139727X

Effective economic decision-making by nonprofit organizations / Dennis R. Young, editor ; sponsored by the National Center on Nonprofit Enterprise and The Foundation Center. ISBN: 1931923698

General

Social Enterprise Alliance: Our Shared Assets - major publications, articles, speeches, lexicon, QuikPolls, and more.

Community Wealth Ventures, Inc. - directory of nonprofits with earned-income projects, reports on social enterprise in the U.S., venture philanthropy and more.

Fast Company's State of Social Capitalism - 20 best social entrepreneurs

REDF - publications -

Harvard Business School Working Knowledge: Social Enterprise

Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative

Schwab Foundation - research papers, articles & more

General Criteria for Evaluating Social Enterprises

RISE Social Venture Rubric: a diagnostic tool

Global Social Venture Competition - see their Resource Library.  The social impact guides include judging criteria for social ventures.

Schwab Foundation: Criteria for selecting outstanding social entrepreneurs -

New Profit, Inc. - their criteria for venture philanthropy funding nonprofits

Reporting and Accounting Standards

New Economics Foundation: Social Accounting & Auditing - links to other standards

Global Reporting Initiative - guidelines for reporting a triple-bottom line (economic, environmental and social performance).

Related Guides

Nonprofit Organizations - includes various methods for measuring social impact

Entrepreneurship, Society and the Environment - sources for triple bottom line entrepreneurship

Career Research: Nonprofits & Social Enterprises - networking and more

Venture Philanthropy - coming soon